


Better Than She Hoped

by Palizinha



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 02:25:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5809978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palizinha/pseuds/Palizinha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey ends up being roped by her family into having a birthday party, and she has no idea if she'll survive it. Thus, she invites her best friend, Finn, to go with her.</p>
<p>The fact she has feelings for him and her entire family thinks they're dating doesn't make things easier, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Than She Hoped

Honestly, it wasn’t that Rey didn’t like her family.

Far for it, really, she loved them, as messed up as the Skywalker-Solo family could be, she loved all of them.

But she wasn’t exactly the greatest at doing family parties, which was why the moment her father told her they would be doing this big party to celebrate her 25th birthday she tried her hardest to try and convince him not to do it.

She loved her father, but parties with the Skywalkers usually meant a huge mess, her cousin Ben loudly declaring he was going to kill his father, someone joking about that one time her father and her aunt accidentally kissed (this story needed to die, fast. She didn’t know why people mentioned it, that was way before even Ben was born) and often her grandfather thinking he was still the great fighter he used to be, only to fall down or something.

All in all, she liked avoiding these parties at all cost, especially after she started being needled by everyone, especially Uncle Han, about whether or not she found herself a nice significant other.

Which she didn’t need, thank you very much.

But as she tried to explain the misery of her situation to her long time best friend, Finn, he didn’t seem to quite understand the total disaster this party was probably going to turn out.

“You don’t get it, Finn!” Rey proclaimed after Finn had the gall of saying that maybe ‘it wouldn’t be that bad”. “Look, I love my family, but I enjoy loving them from far away, and I don’t do well with parties, as you very well know.”

Rey never did well with parties, and while she wasn’t as bad as the time in high school where she used the staff her grandfather gave her to beat someone up during one of the most popular kids’ party, she was still not the greatest expert.

And Finn knew that, considering said beating someone up had been exactly how they had met, so many years ago.

“Look, Rey, you always make a big deal of spending time with your family, but you know they are good to you and really, what’s the worst that could happen?” Finn asked good-naturedly and Rey could have strangled him during that moment.

“Well, even if something bad wasn’t going to happen, it’s definitely going to happen now, I can’t believe you just said that!” Rey wasn’t that superstitious, not really, but strange things had happened to her family over the years and she knew how to take warnings from the Force (that was a long story) seriously.

And saying the most cursed phrase known to humankind was probably the biggest warning of them all.

“Alright, maybe I shouldn’t have said that,” Finn acknowledged. “But look, you’ll have fun with your family and then when you get back, we can go to the gym and you can release stress by being your awesome self, what do you say?”

It wasn’t a bad idea, not really, and Rey was on the verge of accepting it.

But maybe there was a way of making the entire affair bearable.

“Or you could go with me,” Rey suggested.

“Wait, really?” Finn asked, his eyebrows raising in surprise. “I mean, I have never met your family, I was beginning to think you were convinced they would murder me if I ever saw one of them.”

“That could happen, to be quite honest with you, so you should be warned,” Rey said, she honestly wouldn’t put anything past her family. “But they know of you, and they like you, so if I’m honestly doing this, which I will do because I love my family regardless, it would be nice to have my best friend as moral support.”

Finn grinned when she called him her best friend, and Rey knew right then that he was going to agree. “Yes, I’ll go with you. If nothing else, I have always been curious about the Skywalker-Solo family.”

Rey hugged Finn with a smile, the mere thought of him being there made the absolute disaster that party was obviously going to turn out to be a bit more bearable.

Or at least, she hoped so, because she was also throwing her best friend at the wolves known as her family and she truly wasn’t completely sure he would leave that party unscathed.

It would be lucky if he didn’t end up in a coma, actually.

 

Rey drove them there, of course, as Finn still hadn’t managed to get a license while Rey had learnt how to drive really young from Uncle Han.

Not that her father had approved, exactly, but Uncle Han knew how to twist everything not to make himself out as guilty, and by the time everyone found out what he had done, she was already quite adept at driving.

She used to say when she was younger she would grow up to drive race cars. That hadn’t happened, but time didn’t make her enjoy driving any less.

“Rey!” Malton Hux, Ben’s weird best friend screamed, being the first to see her from the big family house that belonged to her grandmother and the family parties usually took part in. “Happy birthday, kid!”

“Nice to see you, Malton, thank you,” Rey said politely, she didn’t like him that much, but he and Ben had known each other for years. She had quite given up on the idea that her cousin would one day realize how strange Malton was. Which made sense, really, because Ben was also extremely weird.

After what Malton said, most of the family and some close friends showed up at the door, all going directly to talk with Rey.

She didn’t do well with crowds, or talking to people that weren’t her best friend, but she liked to think she did a good job as she accepted their gifts.

The party started soon after and everyone seemed to settle down in their chairs, making Rey somewhat relieved. It was a good thing her father hadn’t decided to make a party with loud music and dancing, that was just not her style.

For the first twenty minutes into the party, Rey managed to at least stay in a quiet corner as she talked to Finn.

She entertained the idea of everything going well, but as Uncle Han approached her with his smile that just meant trouble, she knew she had been hoping for too much.

“How’s my favorite niece? Let’s talk for a moment, Rey, we don’t do that often anymore,” Uncle Han said approaching her and Rey nodded as she said to Finn she would talk to him again soon. Even if she was wary about whatever Uncle Han could be planning, she had always loved him.

“How are you, Uncle?” Rey asked as they walked outside, almost everyone was inside the house, so it was quiet enough being outside of it.

“I am doing great as always, Rey,” Uncle Han said, a small smirk on his face, and Rey found herself smiling back. “But I did ask to talk to you for a reason.”

Rey groaned inside of her head, wondering what Uncle Han could possibly be thinking. “What reason?” She asked warily and Han’s smirk grew as he recognized her tone.

Damn him.

“I couldn’t help but notice you finally brought your friend you talk so much about, Finn, with you,” Han pointed out. “I was beginning to think he was a myth.”

“He is very real, I’m afraid,” Rey asked, her voice still suspicious. Where was this going?

“I couldn’t help but wonder, are you dating him? He seems like a nice sort, but as your uncle it is probably my job to rough him up a bit, if that’s the case,” Uncle Han’s eyes said trouble and Rey winced.

“I’m not dating Finn!” Rey protested.

It wasn’t like she had never entertained the idea, Finn was her closest friend and she loved him, that without mentioning the fact he used to have a crush on her back when they were teenagers.

But nothing happened, and they were best friends, and she was fine with where they were, even if she did wonder what dating Finn would be like.

He wasn’t a womanizer or anything, but he did have something of a reputation, especially back in college.

Rey had never had romances, not really, she just wasn’t interested on it, and she still wasn’t interested on most people.

It was different with Finn, however.

He was the only one she had ever truly entertained the idea of having a relationship with, she couldn’t quite explain what was it about him.

“So you’re not dating him,” Han said with a mischievous smile, breaking her off her thoughts. “You want to date him, however, the faraway look in your face made that clear enough. Did he reject you? I could get Chewie to beat him up for that.”

Rey looked at Han with an incredulous expression. “No! Finn didn’t do anything, uncle, I never came onto him or anything, that’s not what we’re like.”

“So you like him, but he doesn’t know that,” Han surmised, clearly planning something. “That’s interesting.”

Rey groaned. “Whatever you’re thinking, get it out of your head.”

“As you wish, my dear,” Han said, his voice making it clear he meant anything but. “Now, if you will excuse me, I want to talk to Leia for a moment, you could go back to talking to your boyfriend.”

“He is not my boyfriend!” Rey declared, maybe somewhat louder than she needed to. A lot of heads closer turned to her after what she said and Rey stalked off back into the house without paying attention to them. “Karabast.”

Finn was still where she left him, engaged in a conversation with Ben, whom she had introduced to Finn back when they first got into the party.

“Rey!” Finn smiled when he saw her, his attention completely diverging from Ben. “Did you have a good conversation with your uncle?”

“My conversation with Uncle Han was certainly, interesting, I’d say,” Rey commented distracted, the topic of the conversation – meaning, Finn – still occupying her head, especially now that they were in the same room.

“Can’t say that’s a word I’ve ever used about talking with my father,” Ben complained, making Rey roll her eyes. Ben and Uncle Han had this game going for ages, and everyone stopped believing Ben truly did feel any kind of contempt for his father years ago. “It was nice to talk to you, anyway, Finn. It’s nice that Rey finally brought a boyfriend home with her.”

Ben put his hand on Finn’s shoulder for a moment and then went to another spot of the party, as Rey stopped herself from screaming ‘he is not my boyfriend’ again.

Finn, poor Finn, blushed profusely at how Ben had called him, and looked absolutely mortified. “I swear I didn’t tell him that!”

Rey rolled her eyes. “Oh, I believe that quite well, Finn, I did tell you my family blew everything out of proportion.”

“Alright, but I mean it, you know? I wouldn’t say something like that, I respect you and it was your decision not to date me,” Finn reassured Rey, but that only made her feel like a jerk, because of course Finn somehow thought she didn’t like the idea of dating him.

She had told him she wanted to stay being friends, and that had been true back when they were teenagers. But that was almost ten years ago.

People changed.

And anyway, she didn’t really regret telling him that, it was the truth, and she wouldn’t have liked to say something else only to wind up breaking his heart when he found out he didn’t feel like that about him. Even if she did, now.

“Don’t worry, Finn,” Rey said soothingly, though in all seriousness, she doubted this would be the last time all night someone mistook Finn to be her boyfriend.

And it didn’t take very long for her to be distracted by one of the disasters she was sure would happen during that party.

There were a few things about Han Solo that everyone knew, he was a bit of an ass, never completely grew up, and, most of all, he knew how to liven things up.

It was a shame that his idea of living things up seemed to be having a fight with Ben that clearly neither of them were absolutely into it, but that was almost tradition now.

Rey honestly didn’t pay attention to most of it, but then her name was dragged into it.

“It would be so much easier if you were like Rey, at least when she brings someone over, it’s a nice boyfriend, instead of the mess that is Hux. What do you even see on that guy, anyway?” Uncle Han asked, and Rey felt herself wince.

It wasn’t even just about the ‘boyfriend’ thing when Uncle Han had been told by her she wasn’t dating Finn, but she knew Malton Hux to be a sore spot amongst the Solos.

She never truly talked about it, but she knew that Ben had been in love with Malton when they were younger, he told her that, and while she didn’t know if anything ever came from that, it had to hurt for Ben to hear everyone being so dismissive of Malton.

She wasn’t the guy’s biggest fan, but at least she kept quiet about it, Uncle Han didn’t offer the same courtesy.

With a huff, Ben walked out and Rey wondered if she should follow him, but decided not to because that was just asking to be involved in that mess.

Uncle Han seemed to realize he went too far in their game this time, however, and he wound up sitting at Rey’s side with a sigh.

“I don’t know if you were paying attention, but I’m sorry I called Finn your boyfriend, you did tell me you weren’t an item,” Uncle Han said, and Rey could see he was upset about everything that always happened between Ben and him.

“It’s fine, I could have a lot of worse fake boyfriends than Finn,” Rey said, looking at Finn with a smile.

“I’m going after Ben, I think, see you later, Rey,” Han said as he got up and Rey watched as he left, hoping he could finally get into some sort of peace with his son.

“If you wanted me to be your fake boyfriend, you should have asked,” Finn joked trying to lighten things up and Rey smiled at him.

“I don’t want you to be my fake boyfriend,” Rey said lightly and winced when Finn seemed to interpret that wrong. “See, something I always forget, and that the mess that is Ben and Uncle Han’s relationship helped me remember somehow, is that sometimes you just have to say what you mean, instead of just keeping quiet. And, I guess I want you to be my real boyfriend, if you want to.”

Finn didn’t say anything for a moment, and Rey didn’t see anything else to add.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle it, if he said he didn’t feel the same, and they would stay being friends, that wasn’t even a question.

“Alright, I guess I could be your real boyfriend,” Finn said after a while and Rey grinned at him, hugging him then.

Maybe she should have kissed him instead, but she felt like she didn’t need to, and she didn’t really get kisses anyway – she tried it a couple times, but didn’t understand what was the big deal about it.

“Come on,” Rey said as she got up, extending her hand for Finn. “I need to properly introduce my boyfriend to my family, I didn’t really say much when I introduced you.”

Finn held her hand and followed her as she went to talk to her father.

This party had changed things, she’d say, but not in a bad way.

Actually, it turned out better than she could have hoped.


End file.
